Floods disrupt classes

Afternoon classes were suspended yesterday in Malabon City and Navotas due to floodings caused by the high tide and compounded by the overnight heavy downpour.

Sea water level rose to two meters high as of 12 noon yesterday affecting most parts of Malabon’s 21 barangays as well as 14 barangays in the coastal town of Navotas, prompting Malabon Mayor Amado Vicencio to order the cancelation of classes in all public schools.

Malabon City has a total of 28 public elementary schools and six high schools.

In private schools, however, suspension of classes were at the discretion of school officials.

"It is up to the concerned officials whether to push through with their classes or not," Malabon’s public information officer Gerry Gonzales said.

In Navotas, Mayor Tobias Tiangco also ordered the suspension of classes on all 15 public elementary schools and seven public high schools.

On Monday, the first day of classes in Metro Manila, students of the Navotas National High School were dismayed when they were ordered to go home by school officials as their classrooms were submerged in ankle-deep sea water.

Regular classes on both localities are expected to resume today when floodwaters subside.

In Valenzuela City, one of the flood-prone areas in the northern part of Metro Manila, classes went on as normal.

"Our flood gates and pumping stations are functioning well, so we were spared from the high tide," Baby Herrera, a staff from the office of Mayor Jose Emmanuel Carlos, said.

In Caloocan City, low-lying areas, particularly on Tanigue and Tamban streets in Dagat-Dagatan, water level reached almost two-feet high.

Classes in the area, however, pushed through as students braved the murky and smelly floodwaters.

Residents of the flood-prone Camanava area are still hoping that the foreign-funded mega-flood control project of the national government in Malabon City would soon be realized.